The present invention relates to the domain of window regulators mounted on frameless doors of vehicles.
On present-day vehicles comprising frameless doors, such as convertibles, window regulators of the xe2x80x9cdouble liftxe2x80x9d type which comprise two guide rails, are used, as such doors generally present a considerable length. The cables are disposed in sheaths, as it is necessary to be able to move the rails apart as a function of the length of the door.
When the door comprises a fixed window pane in its front upper part, a slideway for guiding the front edge of the mobile pane is fixed on the door. This slideway comprises an upper part which extends above the door and is disposed to the rear of the fixed pane, and a lower part disposed in the door and fixed to the structure of the latter by its upper and lower ends. The upper part of the slideway retains the rear edge of the fixed pane and ensures continuity of the two panes when the mobile pane is in upper position.
In general, the upper end of the lower part of the slideway, and the upper ends of the guide rails are fixed on the upper door reinforcement by means of screws cooperating with holes. These holes reduce the capacity of absorption of shocks during test crashes.
The lower ends of the slideway and of the two guide rails are adjustably fixed on the frame reinforcement transversely with respect to the door in order to take the manufacturing tolerances into account. Now, in order to avoid frictions during the movement of the mobile pane and immobilizations, it is necessary that the parallelism between the slideway and the two guide rails be as perfect as possible.
Adjustment of the lower means for fixing the slideway and the two guide rails is effected by hand when the door is assembled, this requiring many man-hours and being expensive.
This invention concerns a system for fixing a window regulator on a frameless door of a vehicle, said door being equipped with a fixed window pane above its front end and with a slideway for guiding the front edge of a mobile pane, said slideway having an upper part to the rear of the fixed pane and a lower part fixed in said door, said window regulator comprising a front guide rail and a rear guide rail parallel to said slideway and mounted on the door, two sliders which support the mobile pane and which may slide respectively on the front guide rail and the rear guide rail, a system of cables connected to the sliders and passing over return means provided at the ends of the rails and means for driving the cables in order to raise or lower the mobile pane.
Thanks to the invention, a perfect parallelism between the slideway and the front rail is ensured, if necessary, before the slideway and window regulator are mounted on the door.
The upper ends of the front rail and of the lower part of the slideway being fixed with respect to each other, only one of them needs to be fixed by means of a screw cooperating with a hole made in the upper reinforcement of the door. The elimination of a hole improves the structural capacity of this reinforcement.
The adjustment of the lower ends of the slideway and of the front and rear rails transversely with respect to the door is reduced to the adjustment of two points, instead of three as in the state of the art, as the front rail remains parallel to the slideway. The operation of positioning the slideway automatically places the front rail in position. All that remains is to adjust the position of the lower end of the rear rail.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, the front rail is fixed on the slideway by fixing means. According to a second embodiment of the invention, the slideway and the front rail are made in one piece.
It is a first object of the present invention to simplify adjustment of the parallelism between the slideway and the guide rails. It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of points of fixation of the slideway and the guide rails on the door in order to improve the structural capacities of the latter. The present invention attains these objects in that the front rail is rigidly connected to the slideway.